Corselet eor curved spines



l the construction ALANSON ABB, OF ROXBURY, MASSACHUSETTS.

GORSELET FOR CURVD SPINES, &C.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 3,691, dated August 7, 1844.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, ALANsoN ABBE, of Roxbury, in the county of Norfolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented `a new and useful improvement in certain surgical'apparatus termed a corselet and used for thecure or relief of spinal and various other 1 distortions; and that the following description and accompanying drawings thereof constitute a full and exact specification of and operation of my said invention. Y

Figure l of the drawings represents the rear or back portion of a corselet, and Fig. 2 denotes the frame or skeleton thereof.

rThe said back is formed in two parts, the one extending upward and the other downward from the loins when applied to the back of a person. The said parts (which are denoted in F l by A and B) are placed at about two or three inches more or less apart from each other, or have a space a. a. between them as denoted in Fig. 2, and they are connected together in the middle of 'the said space by extending the center piece (b) of the top part (A) of the back down and over the center piece (c) of the lower part (B) thereof (which center piece is exn tended upward a short distance above the top of the lower part B.) and securing them together by means of a rivet, screw or other proper contrivance which will permit of a lateral movement of the upper part A upon the lower part B. either in one direct-ion or the other. In other words the pieces b. and c. of the frames of the parts A and B are to be thin strips of steel or other proper material jointed together as described and made so thin and elastic where they are jointed together and between the upper and lower parts A and B as to readily bend either in a direction forward or backward as circumstances may require. The lower portion (B) of the back of the corselet rests directly below the loins andupon the hips of the person who wears it while the upper portion (A) is placed above the loins and in contact with the back, shoulder blades and sides of the patient and extends underneath the arms or beneath the armpits so as to allow one or both arms to rest upon the corselet or not as circumstances may require. Each side or part of the space a. a.` should be filled or partly filled with caoutchouc cloth, or other proper elastic material or materials so arranged that the elasticity of either side or part may be increased or diminished with respect to that of the other so as thereby to draw the two parts (A, B) of the back down on one side with a greater force than on the opposite side, thus `causing constant pressure .to be applied under one or the other l arm as the case may require, the object of the same being to put such a constant strain uponthe relaxed muscles of one side as may be necessary to eventually cure t-he distortion of the spine. The lower part (B) of the back is to rest firmly upon the hips and be fixed and confined in place thereon (so that it may not rise therefrom) by being properiy connected to the front part of the co-rselet, or, when the front part is not worn, by means of a band or straps arranged in any convenient manner and extending around or beneath the abdomen or front part of the body as circumstances may dictate. The upper part (A) is fixed to the shoulders and `upper part of the chest; and the objectof the instrument when so applied and arranged is to permit the free and natural motions of the body in anterior, posterior' and lateral directions impeded only by the power of the spring of the back pieces b. o. (at or near theirpoint of junction) and the elastic substances connecting the upper and lower parts (A, B) of the back of the corselet.

VIn order to vary the elastic force of the elastic substances which connect the upper parts of the corselet in the spaces a. a. they may be composed of elastic straps having buckles or other contrivances which will adinit of their being shortenedA or lengthened; or, they may be composed of elastic lacings passing through eyelet holes suitably fo-rmed in the upper and lower parts (A, B) and arranged so as to be tied and untied and taken up and let o-ut at pleasure.

It will be unnecessary for me to enumerate all the different modes by which a greater or less elastic force may be produced upon one or both sides or parts of the space a a or by which the said elastic force may be varied at pleasure as such are generally well understood. I therefore mean to avail myself of all known means of applying an elastic force within the space a, a on either of the sides of the central back pieces b and c (so as to permit the free and natural lateral movements of the body as set forth) and of varying the strength of the said elastic force (as circumstances may require) in order to produce the necessary pressure unthe back of the corselet is applied. rIhe said part of the corselet is to be shaped or made so as to properly lit the body and for thispurpose the frame of it may be composed of thin ,blades or strips of steel or metal or other proper material suitably shaped and riveted or connected together, the whole being afterward covered in any proper mannerv with silk, ribbon, soft leather or any other material adapted to the purpose.

Having thus explained my invention what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent consists in The above described mode ot making the back of a corselet; viz., in constructing the same of two parts and Jointing them together and otherwise arranging them with respect to each other as set forth, and connecting them by an elastic strapv or straps or other proper elastic materials, which have or have not means of increasing or diminishing their elastic force; the whole being substantially as above specified.

In testimony that the above is a correct specification of my said invention I have hereto set my signature this twenty siXth day of June A. D. 1844.

ALANSON ABB.

Witnesses R. H. EDDY, DAVID A. GRANGER. 

